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U.S. OPEN

September 8, 2009

Andy Murray

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

M. CILIC/A. Murray
7-5, 6-2, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You seemed to be having trouble with your left wrist. Is there a problem? And if so, has it arisen today or has it been ongoing?
ANDY MURRAY: I had a problem with it for a week or so. But regardless, I mean, you know, I just struggled today. I played poorly. You know, I'm obviously very disappointed. I mean, after, you know, the way that the last three Slams went I felt like I had actually played well and lost.
And today, you know, it didn't feel like -- didn't feel like I played well. I had my chance in the first set, and then, you know, struggled after that. You know, energy was -- I mean, I guess the momentum went with him, and I didn't manage to get it back. So, you know, I wasn't able to return well.

Q. The hand was bothering you on the return, is that what you're saying?
ANDY MURRAY: No, regardless of my wrist, it has -- you know, I lost the match. I returned poorly and he served well, and, you know, that was really the difference, guess.
I felt like in the first set, you know, when I was getting into the rallies I was able to move him around and have my chances. And then, you know, once he got the first set, he started serving well and started playing really aggressive. He was shanking a lot of forehands in the first set.
Then in the second he started dropping in, and then he started hitting the ball very clean after that and dictated all of the points.

Q. Usually you can, on days like this, find a way to win. What was the reason for not being able to do that today?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, don't know. You know, that's why I'm disappointed. You know, I just didn't -- you know, I didn't find a way to get myself into the match. There was very few long rallies after the first set, and normally, you know, I'm able to get myself into rallies.
But, you know, I guess on the return, you know, every time I had a chance, you know, he would hit a big serve or I would hit a poor return, especially on the second serve. You know, just a lot allowed him to dictate the play.
Normally the return is the one part of my game where, you know, even if the rest of my game is struggling, I find ways to break serve and get into points, and I didn't do that.

Q. Considering how well you've been playing this summer on hardcourts, does this make it all that much more difficult to take, this early exit?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I'm disappointed. I mean, you know, I don't know how long or, you know, how quickly it will take me to get over it. But, yeah, I played well, you know, in the summer. I had a good grass court season. I mean, this hasn't been a bad sort of hardcourt season.
Just, you know, today was not good. You know, so I'm going to be disappointed, but I'll have to go and work on some things.

Q. Can you comment on his game, the way he played, because you have had experience playing him before? Is this the best you've seen him?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I mean, the first set -- like I said, I felt like I had the tactics right. I was playing the right sort of way and had, you know, the opportunities. Then he started to, you know, play a little bit more aggressive, and I guess relaxed a little bit after he got that first set.
You know, it was probably the cleanest I've seen him hit the ball sort of set and a half, so that was -- that was a little bit different to the previous matches.
But, you know, some of that, you know, can also be down to not being tactically not quite as sound those previous matches.

Q. This is the end of the Grand Slam season for you, obviously. I know you just came off the court, but stepping back, how would you assess the season? What are your thoughts on the season as a whole?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, it's been a very good season. I don't think I could say it's been anything less than that, you know. I improved my results at Wimbledon and at the French Open. Here was worse, and the same result in Australia. I equaled my best result in Australia.
You know, I guess, you know, it's been a good season. Could have been better in the Slams, but the rest of the season has gone well. I have to make sure, you know, I work on my game a lot to make sure that when I go into the Slams next year and the beginning of the year I'm ready to win one.

Q. Your body language seemed pretty flat for you. Is that as a result of sort of the wrist thing bugging you at the back of your mind?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't know what it was. Like I said, you know, against Capdeville I felt a little bit low on energy. And it's not an excuse, but it's not good in a Grand Slam to feel that way.
You know, and like I say, I felt just when the match started to get away from me. I don't know, I just couldn't get myself into enough return games and couldn't quite find a way to get myself back into the match.
You know, I mean, a lot of times when I lose, I always get asked that, you know, if it's due to -- you looked flat. But that's not always the case and why I lost.
But today, you know, I just couldn't find my way into games and he was dominating a lot of the points, so it's difficult to get into it.

Q. Patrick McEnroe said on commentary that you mentally went away in the second and third sets. Is that a harsh comment?
ANDY MURRAY: No, I mean, I think one of the things about me that I've been very good at the last couple of years, I've been saying that I find ways to get back into the matches mentally, and I think very strong.
You know, today -- I mean, I could have been better in pretty much every part of the game, whether it was mental or serve, forehand, backhand returns. I don't know. I mean, they're entitled to their own opinion. I'll let them have it.

Q. There were some people that were picking you to win this tournament coming in. Did you ever feel any pressure or expectations on you?
ANDY MURRAY: No. I mean, I put pressure on myself to win the tournaments. You know, it doesn't -- I mean, it's nice to hear sometimes from the other players or, you know, ex-players, but it doesn't really make a difference to who win who wins or loses the tournament. They're not out there on the court with you, so it doesn't make any difference.

Q. Will the wrist affect your Davis Cup, or is that too soon to talk about that?
ANDY MURRAY: I plan on playing just now. See what I, you know, do from here. You know, go and obviously take a few days off. You know, been over in the States now, you know, a good sort of six and a half, seven weeks.
You know, so I will go home and rest and, you know, make sure I do all the right things and, you know, hopefully be okay.

Q. What did he do particularly well today? Was there anything that surprised you at all?
ANDY MURRAY: No, I mean, the first set was obviously important to the way a lot of the match went, because from there he started to serve better. You know, he hit the spots on the serve, especially quite a few 30-All points or 15-30 points, and he served well.
That was, for me, the difference. A lot of the times I played him before was he served well and I returned poorly and, you know, I didn't give myself enough chances.

Q. Were you kind of surprised you didn't find a way out of it and felt a bit flat despite this being your favorite tournament?
ANDY MURRAY: No, I mean, sometimes, you know, you can get -- you know, if you play badly or whatever, you don't find a way back into the match. You know, sometimes that can happen. You know, I don't think I'm perfect.
You know, sometimes when you play badly, you don't -- you just don't -- you don't have a way back in. You know, when -- if you look at the way that he struck the ball from the first set to the, you know, to the end of the third set, he started to play a lot, lot better.
You know, my game wasn't up to scratch, and, you know, it's unfortunate. You know, sometimes in individual sports that can happen. That's the tough thing about it. You don't have any other players or anyone to sort of, you know, hide behind and can sort of cover for you. You have to take responsibility yourself.
You know, I just didn't play well enough.

Q. Would you say this is the biggest disappointment of your career so far?
ANDY MURRAY: My tennis career, yeah. I mean, worse things have happened to me, that's for sure. In terms of tennis, you know, I guess that -- you know, it's just kind of the way the match went, I think, really, makes it disappointing.
But, you know, I believe that I'll come back better from it. I'll learn a lot from what happened this week, like I have done most times when I've had bad results. You know, I'll come back better and stronger.

Q. When a big point is lining up and it doesn't play out on your favor, how do you deal with it on the court to get back in the game or motivate yourself? How do you deal with that?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, you know, it depends on, you know, the situation or where -- you know, the stage of the match. You know, you always try and look forward obviously, but, you know, sometimes you can get, you know, frustrated.
You got 20 seconds to get your emotions up, but most important thing is you're focused for the next point.

Q. When you do look back, Andy, what do you think the one or two things you'll learn from this US Open and this match?
ANDY MURRAY: Oh, I've had, I don't know, 20 minutes to think about it, so I don't know. I'll go sit down with, you know, the guys that I work with and see what went well, you know, this whole year and what didn't go so well, and, you know, work as hard as I can on it to be ready to win a Slam in Australia.
I think that, you know, next year I've got a very, very good chance of doing it. I think I'll be a better player next year than this year, and, you know, hopefully I'll do that.

Q. Do you know what the wrist problem is exactly?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, but I will try not to discuss injuries, as, you know, I leave it to my doctors and physio to let me know, you know, what I should be doing with it and how much I should be playing and how much time I need to take off.
You know, but I'm not going to give out any details.

End of FastScripts

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